Features

In Defense Of The Genre: 5 Seconds Of Summer’s favorite pop-punk songs

August 05 2014, 10:27 AM EDTBy

Whether you consider 5 Seconds Of Summer a boy band, a pop-punk band or something in-between, there’s no denying their love for the likes of Green Day, Blink-182, and All Time Low. (Along with these scene staples, 5SOS also devour music by bands including Of Mice & Men, Anarbor and Sleeping With Sirens.) With that in mind, we asked the guys to pick some of their favorite pop-punk songs. Be warned, not everyone in the band ascribed to the genre’s typical tropes. “If there's one thing I hate about pop-punk, it's people thinking you have to do the whole [double-time] thing,” drummer Ashton Irwin explains. “I think that's a bit ugly; it can sound quite shit. I wasn't raised on that. When I'd go to pubs and see bands like that, I'd just think, ‘Slow down!’”

ASHTON IRWIN: “I'm more a fan of Green Day’s live recordings. They're so amazing; I love that Billie can command a stadium. He and Dave Grohl have that power. I look at that and get really inspired. That's the way we perform, a lot of yelling and shit. We want to get a toilet paper gun for the next tour.”

MICHAEL CLIFFORD: “If I had to show someone what pop-punk was, it would probably be this song. Either this one or ‘Fat Lip.’ I think it's the perfect mix of what should be on radio. Plus, ‘In Too Deep’ has the video where he comes out of the water playing the insane guitar solo.